Nn Plans To Remove Sticky Issue Of Decals

NEWPORT NEWS — But the city would still charge the vehicle tax. People who don't pay the city tax won't get DMV registration.

Newport News is planning to end the knuckle-busting era by eliminating city vehicle decals starting in 2007.

The time-honored traditions of peeling expired stickers off windshields and waiting in a line that wraps around City Hall to buy new ones will end. And police will no longer pull someone over if they don't have a decal.

That tax enforcement tool has been rendered worthless in recent years as some cities and counties in Hampton Roads have done away with the decal.

Newport News will replace the old system with a fee on personal property tax bills due this December.

The city switched to so-called "easy-peel" stickers in 2004, but even those made City Treasurer Marty Eubank irritable as he tried to remove his from his windshield.

"It wasn't coming off the way it was supposed to come off," Eubank told the City Council this week.

If the city stopped charging the decal fee altogether, it would lose $3.6 million. Newport News had also been hesitant to kill the decal because it provided a way to catch people who hadn't paid other taxes and parking fines.

"Basically," Eubank said, "I relied on the police department to do my enforcement."

Newport News will now try to catch delinquent taxpayers with the help of the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles. Newport News will regularly send DMV a list of delinquent taxpayers, who will also get notices from the city.

The state will not register a vehicle until the owners pay their city taxes, plus a $20 fee. This method of enforcement will be blunted somewhat by people who owe taxes but have paid for a two-year registration.

The annual vehicle decal fee is based on a flat charge, plus an amount based on the vehicle's weight, and the formula will not change for residents.

Overall, Newport News expects to lose some money by having less tax enforcement power.

Based on Virginia Beach's experience without decals, Newport News expects to go without between $300,000 and $500,000 over the next two years.

But Newport News doesn't collect taxes from people who don't get stickers for inoperable vehicles.

As long as they weren't driven on city streets, these vehicles didn't require a decal. Now they will be taxed at the decal price.

Eubank said he will also be able to track down some delinquent taxpayers who are self-employed or moved elsewhere in Virginia.

Between the inoperable vehicle tax and making these other folks pay up, Newport News will likely get another $400,000 to make up for the lost revenue.

Currently, if someone sells their vehicle during the year, they can get a refund of the decal fee that varies by when the vehicle was sold.

About 1,600 people get refunds from the city that total $27,000 now, by bringing in the shredded decal.

With no decal to turn in, the city will eliminate the refund program. *